The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-12-22


On the crest Of the Sierra Neyad,
Range, amid eternal winter, there ap'
pears gorgeous blood-red plant
massed with startling brillancy against
pallid banks Of snow. In size ani
shape, the cloud-fiower resembles .
hyacinth, but the leaves and stem, Al
well as the blossoms, are of one vivii
crimson hue. Unlike the Alpine flow
er, of hardy stem and straw-like tex
ture, this plant is succulent and rudy
but it is phantom formed of leo ani
fire. Plucked from its cold bed,
drips its life away in your hand, and j,
few moments all the fire and color i
gone in ICY tears, and there remains on
~ d wet, shapeless, colorless film.
The traveller up the Sierras, hears o
the strange blossomlfrom returning:way
farers, long before he reaches tn
heights where it blossoms. No care i
able to transplant or even to carry t,
the lowlands the unique flower. Oh
the affairs of the upper air it is laid
where no other flower shape is found
and he who would see it, must go t.
that shrine of icy splendor.
In early times, the fre-fower, as i
was called, was counted miraculous b.
the pious few who, on missions of mer
cy, crossed the icy peaks. More thar
hundred years ago, when English
Dutch and French formed sparse Dor
der of civilization on our Eastern coast
the ark-eyed Spaniard entered Amer
lea by its Western way, and market his
march along the Pacific SLOPE lot BY
forts, but churches, with which thei1
shrines and al+o-s yet stand in decayine
grana.ar amid gardens of olive and palm
From these outposts, guarded by the
sacred cross, missionary fathers in the
robes and sandals of the Franciscans,
penetrated inland, carrying good will te
the savages of the New World. It il
said that one of those devoted brothers
seeing on the white summit of noun.
tain the red snow-fower of the Sierras,
sprinkling the snowy field like drops Of
blood, fell on his knees in wondering
alteration, and called the mountain
"Sangre de Cristo," the Mount of the
Blood of Christ. This brother died In
the wilderness, and it is told that the
crucifix which dropped from his lifeless
hand was transformed into q marvel
among the clouds. For, far lifted above
mortal, or wing of bird, towers great
cross of snow against mountain side
known as the Mount of the Holy Cross.
The most careless tourist feels 6
thrill of awe, when, from mid-air, ap.
pears the isolated mount of the Holy
Cross" Long ago the splendors o
Mount Sinai faded into the gray of the
past; long ago the priceless drops of the
Savior's blood were shed on Mount
Calvary yet on the wondrous stretches
of our mountain ranges, red drops crinl'
son the pale wastes, and, in splendor o.
diamonds and pearls, CLEANS the eternal
SHOWS in form of the blessed Cross
lifted up, that all, on height or low
land, can see the symbol of Divine and
universal love.
In o cabin that had long been roof
less and fireless, mockery of comfort
upon the windy summit of the range
there lived, once on time, my guide
told me, maiden, dazzling and pure al
the stars.
It was July when we stood there, bul
the SHOWS that had drifted over the
hearth were unmelted, and the vino
roared through the crevices with al
angry grief. What the place must have
been when winter buried it could scarce
~ he imagined.
The father of the beautiful girl whose
home this had been, had perched hi.
habitation on this crag, not altogether
by chance, for in summer he acted o!
guide to tourists in the Yosemite, ane
in winter, on his snow shoes, carried
mail and messages to scattered cabins
and settlements. Silent Jack-so ht
was known-was q mystery, ever
among those hidden and mysterioul
men who find arefuge in the mountain
gulches. He was misanthrope, wht
had taken the youngest of his four chill
dren and fled, leaving their mother ane
her complainings and struck out, II
vindictive sulleness, for the wilderness
and peace. The child, he swore
should grow up IN quiet, if nothing
more. If from the glance Of the little
girls dark eyes he turned in thought
sometimes to other dark eyes like them
which IN his early manhood had beer
lode-stars of destiny; if the fond name
"father, brought to his remembrance,
other children who had lisped tn,
same dear word, none knew. 81,
mentioned his old life to no one. HI
spoke of his wife and children but onc'
during the years Of his stay on til,
mountain.
Silent Jack was not an unlettered o,
vicious man. He taught and cared to-
the child of his love with morose and
pathetic devotion. He taught the lit
tie one of God-strange teacher
of the word. The Bible was her spell
ing-book, her geography and story
book for the rest she had tho Crane
solitude, the stars near by, and thu
blossoms in the snow-bank Of her home
The miners and trappers Of the slop'
called her, with instructive homage o
nan to the identifying and pure, thu
Snow Flower of the Sierras. She wa
to them the object Of alteration, ~ til
namesake flower, to the early devotees
Whispers Of the divinity shrined in tn
| mountain SHOWS, doated downward
along the paths Of standardization
Stories Of maiden somewhere, eithe
in cloud, or snow, 1.-the, brilliant AMI
i innocant. atronO an tina mountain nine